College Hockey Notebook: Back to the grind for UNH

By KEVIN GRAYNew Hampshire Union Leader

The University of New Hampshire men's ice hockey knocked off some rust and found a silver lining at Dartmouth College last weekend. Returning from the holiday break, the Wildcats dropped a 4-1 decision against the Big Green before rallying for a 3-2 overtime victory against Bemidji State in the Ledyard National Bank Classic at Hanover.

In Monday's consolation, UNH's fourth line of freshman Dan Correale, sophomore Jay Camper and sophomore Matt Willows combined for four points against Bemidji State and helped generate the winning goal by Trevor van Riemsdyk. It was an encouraging ending to an unpredictable post-holiday weekend.

"There's an unknown factor coming back from a long break," said UNH coach Dick Umile, whose team hosts Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (6-7-4, 1-5-2 ECAC) on Saturday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center in Durham. "I thought we had been in a groove, but you come back, and who the heck knows? Dartmouth was in the same boat (last weekend). The score probably wasn't indicative of the game. When you break it down, we had just as many scoring chances as they did, but the puck didn't go in."

Saturday night's game between the No. 4 Wildcats (12-3-2, 8-2-1 HE) and Rensselaer can be watched on WBIN-TV with commentators Dan Parkhurst and Pete Webster calling the action. It's the final non-conference game for UNH, which plays at No. 1-ranked Boston College on Jan. 11, a game to be televised by NESN.

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TV TIME: The No. 8-ranked Dartmouth men (8-3-2, 4-1-1 ECAC) begin the weekend with a conference battle against No. 5 Quinnipiac (14-3-2, 8-0-0 ECAC) tonight at Hamden, Conn. The game will be televised on NESN. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. at the TD Bank Sports Center. On Saturday, the Big Green play at Princeton (3-7-4, 2-2-3) at Hobey Baker Rink at 4 p.m.

The Dartmouth women (7-4-2, 3-3-1 ECAC) play at Rensselaer (5-11-2, 3-5-0 ECAC) tonight at Houston Fieldhouse in Troy, N.Y. Senior forward Camille Dumais is riding a hot streak with five goals and four assists in her past three games. Dumais earned ECAC Hockey Player of the Week before the holiday break.

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HONORS: Freshman defender Alexis Crossley of the UNH women's team has been named December Hockey East Rookie of the Month following a hot stretch four points (one goal and three assists) in the past four games. The blue liner from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, shares the team lead with 13 points (six goals, seven assists). The Wildcats return to action Tuesday, Jan. 15 when they travel to Union College for the final non-conference game of the season.

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WINNING STREAK: The St. Anselm College men's hockey team (6-2-1), riding a four-game unbeaten streak, plays at Fredonia State (5-8-0) tonight at 7. The women's team (8-2-2), coming off a 3-1 win at Colby, plays at Franklin Pierce (4-6-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The Southern New Hampshire University men's team returns from a three-week holiday break and plays at St. Michael's College in the DoubleTree Ice Hockey Classic this weekend. SNHU (2-7-2) plays at St. Michael's (2-8-0) in the tourney opener Saturday at 7 p.m.

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CODFISH TOURNEY: Plymouth State University goalie Ali Ponte made a career-high 64 saves as the women's team dropped a 5-0 decision against Lake Forest College in the semifinals of the Codfish Bowl Tournament at the University of Massachusetts Boston on Thursday. The Panthers (2-8-0) face Stevenson University (Md.) in today's consolation game at 1 p.m. The Plymouth State men's team (8-3-0) plays at Babson (7-2-2) on Saturday afternoon at 4..